Tom Anderson won’t be complaining about Port Vale’s heavy schedule because the on-loan Burnley defender is delighted to be getting regular football.

The 24 year old is set to line up for the Valiants at home to Shrewsbury in the Checkatrade Trophy tonight (7.45pm), as Vale attempt to reach the last 16.

The game continues a busy period for Vale who entertain Cambridge in the league on Saturday before heading to Yeovil for their FA Cup second round replay next Tuesday following last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Vale Park.

He said: “It is a vital part of football to be playing week in week out, I am not a young boy anymore and I need to do that to progress. Probably the best thing from playing week in week out is you learn stuff each week, what you need to work on, what you are good at and how to progress from there.”

Anderson was brought to Vale on a season-long loan by Michael Brown from Burnley at the end of August and has certainly proved a useful signing. He only featured twice under Brown, but has been a regular for Neil Aspin, forming a partnership with Nathan Smith which has arguably been the strongest combination in the team.

The no nonsense centre half is drawing on experience gained playing 40 games on loan in League One with Chesterfield last season.

Tom Anderson in action for Port Vale at Exeter City

He says working with former centre half Aspin can only benefit his game. He said: “I have heard he was pretty good! You just have to focus on being a defender first and foremost, make sure you win your tackles and headers and then, when you do get a chance to play, be nice and calm and composed.”

Read More

Fans will have noticed Anderson doesn’t mess about if a ball needs to go into touch.

He added: “They can’t score there can they! Sometimes if the ball has to go, it has to go, but then you bring a bit of composure to it and start playing. You have to make the right decisions about when to do it at the right time.”

He is likely to line up alongside Smith tonight, continuing Aspin’s first-choice partnership at the heart of the defence.

Anderson added: “I am not young but I am not exactly old or massively experienced. Smithy is younger than me but we work well together and there is that understanding there.”

Read More

Aspin will make changes this weekend with Saturday’s Cambridge game in mind. That said, he’s not complaining about a schedule which now includes next Tuesday’s FA Cup replay at Yeovil.

He explained: “I am not going to get negative about it because we are not asking the players to go down a mine or go to a factory and work all day. We are just asking them to play an extra game of football which involves a bit of travelling.

“We are in football to play games, you want to play games and if you want to do well in cups sometimes you have to play replays. I am not going to look at it as a negative. It is another game for us and we have to try to use it in a positive manner.”

Read More

Aspin will include Ben Whitfield in his squad tonight for the first time since the midfielder suffered an ankle injury in the 1-0 win at Exeter City on October 21. Vale have been given permission by Whitfield’s parent club Bournemouth to play him for 20 minutes.